A Beginner's Guide to Gripping a Handgun and Stance

Whenever you see the protagonist in a movie shooting a handgun, it looks so cool and effortless. Often, they have super-human accuracy and speed like John Wick or James Bond, but the reality of shooting a handgun is very different. Pistol marksmanship is among the most difficult skill sets to learn as a new shooter, but it all comes down to fundamentals.

And no aspect of shooting a firearm is more fundamental than gripping it, and how to stand. It sounds easy and self-explanatory, but making assumptions and going in blind is a great way to form bad habits early and make mastering your sidearm very challenging. So, with that in mind, here’s a basic guide on how to grip a pistol and how to position your body when shooting.

Like most in-depth questions, the answer to “What is the correct pistol grip?” depends on a few factors.

In a nutshell, the best grip is the one that gives you the most control over the gun’s recoil and affords you the steadiest platform to shoot from.

For this article and the sake of brevity, we’ll be restricting the grip techniques to two-handed grips. Unless you don’t have use of both your hands or have one wounded in a fight, always use both hands. But before we get to the hands, gripping a pistol is more than just how to hold the gun; it’s also about aligning your body to make the best use of your muscles, body weight, and natural point of aim. 

To simplify things, we’ll discuss the two most famous schools of thought on how to shoot handguns and their associated stances - Weaver and Isosceles.

Both are different ways of standing and gripping the handgun, but we’ll start with the stance aspect first to give a little insight into why you would use either and how they benefit before we get to the gripping element of shooting

For the most part, every shooting school currently teaches a modified isosceles technique. The technique/stance is named such because of the isosceles triangle formed by the shooter's arms. In this stance, a shooter stretches both arms out forward and grasps the handgun. 

The shooter’s body should be squared off against the target like they’re trying to have a conversation with it. Then, the pistol is grasped firmly with both hands, and the shooter reaches out with both arms and locks their wrists to provide skeletal support. 

As far as gripping the gun, I have always been taught to first place the dominant hand on the back of the pistol grip, keeping the thumb straight and parallel with the barrel. Then, wrap the fingers around the front of the grip. Then, take the support hand and align the base of the thumb - AKA the meaty part - of the support thumb so that it fits in the gap under the shooting hand’s thumb. This should feel natural, and as a general rule, you’re trying to cover as much of the grip as possible with your hands.

Once the thumbs are together, wrap the support hands’ fingers around the front of the grip to lay them in the grooves between your shooting hand’s fingers. Once this is done, make sure your support thumb is pointed forward at the target and resting alongside the frame of the handgun.

The general concept is to give as much support to the pistol as possible while giving your brain a natural pointing object - your thumb - so that even when you take a shot without a perfect sight picture, you’re more likely to land your hits. This is very similar to the natural point-of-aim technique the military uses for rifle shooters, where they align the person’s body to the target.

Once you have a good grip on the pistol, spread your legs shoulder-width apart to distribute your weight evenly. This provides a very stable shooting stance that will help partially negate recoil.

Now, drive the gun towards your target, acquire a sight picture, and press the trigger evenly back to send a round to your desired destination. This sounds complicated when written out, but imagine trying to explain how to kick a soccer ball to someone who’s never kicked something. It would sound like advanced trigonometry. The good news is that once you get a feel for this, your brain will build muscle memory, and you’ll know your grip is good without thinking about it.

There are several benefits to the Isosceles stance and grip.

• Aligns your torso with the target so that you’re naturally aiming at it, giving you a better chance to hit.
• Allows you to transition between targets quickly since you’re just pivoting your body to face off against them.

It sounds perfect, but there’s always a downside to everything. In the case of the isosceles stance, it’s a combination of recoil control, exposure, and mobility.

• Since this stance requires a shooter to be upright and squared off against a potential threat, it also exposes more of the shooter to that threat. One of the biggest reasons military and law enforcement transitioned from Weaver to Isosceles is because they all wear body armor. And armor functions much better when facing a threat head-on. If you’re not wearing armor, this can be an issue.
• The second drawback of Isosceles is that it doesn’t provide as much recoil control as Weaver since both hands provide support for the gun, not heavy tension. This is compounded by the fact that a shooter places their legs shoulder-width apart and squares off to the target.
• A talented Navy SEAL instructor once made an excellent demonstration of this for a class I attended. He had everyone assume the Isosceles stance with a fake blue gun. Then, he walked up to them and pushed the weapon toward the shooter. Every single person stumbled backward. Which makes sense - if you were trying to force a friend’s stuck car out of a ditch, would you square off against it or blade yourself and push with your shoulder and knees?
• Lastly, the stiff nature of the stance also reduces horizontal mobility since it’s challenging to go from perpendicular to a target to moving without shifting your whole body. For competition or range practice, this is a non-issue. But there are better options if you’re training for a defensive threat where getting away from potential threats is a genuine concern.

This brings me to my old, antiquated favorite: the Weaver stance.

The Weaver stance originated in 1950 in Southern California during freestyle pistol competitions. It was the brainchild of Las Angeles Deputy Sheriff Jack Weaver. At the time, most departments taught one-handed, point-shooting for pistols. This old technique originated in World War 2 and was taught to Allied soldiers to rapidly engage enemies at close range. 

Truthfully, it does work well if you’re trying to hit a human-sized target at close range, but for more precise shooting, a shooter needs to use their sights. Jack Weaver discovered if a shooter applies opposing pressure with each hand on a pistol, they can negate a tremendous amount of felt recoil.  

To assume the Weaver stance, a shooter positions themselves like they will get in a fistfight with the target. Place both feet shoulder-width apart, then take a half step back with the primary foot. (Primary being whatever your dominant hand is.) 

Then, slightly bend the knees and, with the shooting hand on the pistol, push it forward toward the target (some shooters lock this elbow, some don’t. Both work fine -though technically a locked elbow is a partial Chapman stance, but very few shooters use that.). Then, take the support hand and grasp the other side of the pistol with the fingers wrapped around the front of the grip.

Once that hand is in place, pull back on that hand to apply rearward pressure, countering your primary arm’s forward pressure. Essentially, you’re compressing the gun in between your hands. Lastly, lean slightly forward so that the weight of your body isn’t resting on your heels but on the balls of your feet. This allows your body weight to help resist the recoil impulse in addition to your muscles and bones. 

Shooters should repeat the steps I listed above in the Isosceles section to grip the gun. To quickly recap, grip the pistol with the dominant hand, wrapping your fingers around the front of the grip. Try to get your hand as high up on the grip as possible—the higher the grip, the less recoil you will feel. 

Why?

It’s a matter of leverage. The felt recoil from a shot will originate from the barrel. You’re trying to align your hand as closely with the barrel as possible. The higher the barrel or bore axis is in relation to your grip, the more leverage the recoil impulse has over your grip.

Back to the grip - take your support hand, place your palm along the opposite side of the grip, trying to cover as much of the grip as possible, and wrap your fingers around the front and place them in groves between your dominant hand’s fingers.

The main benefits of using the Weaver stance:

• Increased recoil control and making yourself a smaller target. Since you’ll be slightly bladed to the target, you’re a little harder to hit

The downside: 

• If you’re wearing body armor. Most armor carriers don’t include side plates, and without these plates, the Weaver stance exposes your ribs to fire.

I recommend the Weaver stance for shooters firing heavy-recoiling handguns, such as snub-nosed ultra-light revolvers or anything chambered in a magnum cartridge. With either of these, a little extra recoil reduction can significantly increase your effectiveness with the pistol and reduce flinch. In turn, this also increases shooter confidence, which leads to more successful shots.

My experience teaching and being taught elucidated one key point: Whichever technique works best for you is the correct one. Sure, Weaver is generally better with revolvers and large-caliber guns, but some body types don’t like the stance. Alternatively, the Isosceles stance is more natural for most shooters, but I’ve seen plenty of shooters who struggle with it that excel with Weaver.

Ultimately, the best solution is to try both and see which one feels the most comfortable for you.